1997 Jaguar XJ6 from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

17th Jun 2013, 04:57

You'll long have moved on now I'm sure - but for the benefit of any other passers by, I budget $3000 a year for specialist service attention to my XJ6 every 6 months - which is probably overkill since I only do about 7,000 km a year - based on 3 1/2 years of experience. This has included a full new set of tyres and brake rotors/pads - absent that the total would be closer to $2000 pa Still, when you're at zero depreciation, that's still cheap motoring for this level of luxury!

3rd Feb 2014, 03:02

Thanks very much for your reply, which I only just noticed. It's heartening to know that $3000 a year could keep such a great car on the road. As you say, with zero depreciation, it's a very reasonable cost.

As it happens, I still haven't moved on from the Corona. It's now done 271395km and still going very strong. Average annual maintenance continues to be $600 per year. I'm still very interested in getting a Jag, but I'm about to change jobs and want to get well established in the new job before changing cars. Also, I'm not sure whether to get an X300 Sovereign or a Series 3 Sovereign (or perhaps even a Series 2 XJ6). I know the X300 is more reliable. However, I prefer the earlier models' styling (even though the X300 is still very beautiful). Any idea how much it'd cost to maintain a Series 3, or dare I even suggest, a Series 2?

23rd May 2014, 01:34

I posted the original review.

I have no direct experience of running the older XJs, but I have friends who do. Being older, then need more work, and they are a very old design now, however advanced they were in their day. They need a lot more fettling to keep them in good trim, and I would say are a less viable daily driver than an X300 or X308 and would be a lot more expensive to keep in the road. They also use a lot more fuel. I agree that they are prettier though - I like the Series 1 and Series 3 best, and the late Series 3 especially have beautiful interiors, particularly the Sovereign and Vanden Plas.

I finally succumbed to temptation and traded my 1997 XJ6 against a pristine, one-owner 2003 XJ8 4.2 - a very early X350 series - at Roadbend Jaguar in Perth. They're not as sleek and good-looking as the earlier cars, but they're a couple of generations newer and a totally different drive. I liked the slightly vintage feel of the X300, combined with most modern safety features and excellent reliability (by the way, I had no more issues with the XJ6 in my last year of ownership, so I stand by my assessment of its excellent reliability and build quality). But the X350 is a rocket-ship by comparison and far more spacious inside. I've had it 10 months now, and again, reliability has been great so far, with only one of the the front electronic parking sensors needing a repair and the trim on the glovebox lid having to be reattached as it was starting to come away. That's it - outstanding for a car that's nearly 11 years old. The other thing is the fuel consumption is about 20% better than the old 4.0 litre, probably as a result of the lighter aluminium body shell. I average 13.5 l/100km around town, and that drops to 8.0 at a steady 110(ish) on the freeway.

I expect I'll run this for another 3 or 4 years, and then perhaps try the latest XJ when it's got cheap enough!

6th Aug 2016, 18:36

A trick I used for the headliner.

Thumb tacks sprayed with the correct color of the headliner. Pin up the headliner with them. Does not look bad at all; make sure they are even all around. Better than spending $1000 to replace the headliner.